Who ‘owns’ employee measurement?

Many companies undertake some form of annual employee survey. A value index or quotient of some kind. But how often is it either influenced and or executed by PR or corprorate communications staff? I suspect we’d find a mixed bag out there–as I’ve noticed among clients and practitioner colleagues–as to which department ‘owns’ the measurement of employees. Most (?) often it’s HR. One could debate, I suppose, as to whether or not that’s the right place for it. If employee measurement (and really we should be talking about much, much more than strictly surveys here) is indeed the purview of HR, then here’s hoping that HR is also being counselled by communicators and by a good external measurement consultant.